NW Airlink-Express Airlines One-MEM

[9drvr]

Hi guy's....

What is the news at EXA1 on hiring?
I was told that a major announcement is due very shortly on a large scale RJ aircraft purchase and some mean hiring and upgrades.
Any body know of this??? Training contract/bond? new hire pay?
aircraft assignment? schedules? can you commute?

Thanks

9drvr

 

[bigboy]

I know that Northwest Airline ordered 150 44seaters CRJ440( 75 firm, and 75 option),those aircraft could be going to Express, Mesaba or both, only Northwest knows.

 

[Jiminmem]

As for the announcement on the 44 seat order, who knows. We've been told it would happen every month since late November. It'll happen soon enough, they start arriving in the late summer. So, NWA has got to choose someone to fly them soon, otherwise they'll be parking them as no one will be ready to fly them.

As fo newhires, they say in teh 3rd quarter, but that is not written in stone, will depend on a lot of factors. The first and most important would be if we get any from the 44 seat order.

All new hires would get the CRJ as the Saabs will be all gone by the end of the year. Starting pay would be $19.54 with a 75 hour guarantee and $1.4 per diem. This takes into account an adjustment we get in May. There is no training contract or bond, but no pay while in initial training.

As for upgrades, who knows to be sure. As all the Saab Captains go over to the CRJ its going to slow things down, would be a complete guess, but I'd say its under 2 years. Could be a lot less, have some in class right now with less then 6 months of senority, but it seems to change month to month. The previous class most junior upgrade was over 2 years, so anyones guess.

Bases, well there is MEM, DTW, and MSP. Any new hire would get MSP or DTW, forget MEM. Could probably upgrade before you could hold an FO slot there. The schedules aren't the greatest, its possible to commute, but won't be that easy. Supposedly they are going to try and make them a little easier for commuting by the spring, but I've heard that every month since I've been here. So, take it for what its worth.

Good luck

 

[T-handle]

hey 9drvr

Just to give you the scoop on the "other" Airlink, Mesaba. We too have a MEM base for our Avros(our most junior Avro FO domicile). And we begin Saab flying out of MEM in just a few weeks as we slowly take over Express' Saab routes. It will be a Saab base very soon and most likely to go very junior especially for new hire FOs.

We haven't ran a newhire class since September and things have been on hold. 52 pilots are still on furlough with expectations that they will be back by the end of summer.

Schedules are awesome for the most part right now. Everyone is b!tching about money but at the same time, days off rock. Saab drivers averaging anywhere from 13-21 days off. DTW being the most junior base and best Saab schedules. I'd say 15-16 off as a majority average with partial weekends.

Our contract is amendable this June and is currently in negotiations. We're also bidding for the Northwest CRJ order and will probably get them(not this year),but to take delivery of them next year. But no rush. We need to get our furloughees back and the MEM saab show up and running.

I'm pretty optimistic of both airlinks to do well. I know the end of the year seems a long ways away, but time flies.